The present innovations relate generally to the field of producing coke from coal and more particularly to a method and apparatus for testing and evaluating the coking quality of coal in a commercial coke oven.
Coke is a key ingredient used in the manufacture of steel and other commercial applications and coke is typically produced by heating coal in a controlled atmosphere for long periods of time to drive off volatile materials and impurities from coal and convert or reduce the coal to coke. Because coal is an organic material the components of coal can vary widely and this wide variation in components results in disparate coking capabilities for coal mined from different locations. Some coal can be converted into high quality, metallurgical coke and some lack the necessary components or have too many impurities and result in a poor quality coke. Due to the wide range of coking qualities of coke, it is necessary to test the coking performance of coal and test the coking performance of various blends of coal. Unfortunately, there is an inadequate supply of testing ovens for evaluating the coking performance of coal and blends of coal and therefore, there is a need for developing some means for testing the coking performance of coal and blends of coal as part of continuously operating commercial coke oven operation. In the past, expendable, single-use containers have been used during a commercial coke oven operation in order to test the coking performance of coal samples. However, the expendable, single-use containers such as cardboard have been consumed in the extreme environment of the commercial coke oven and once the container has been consumed, or otherwise destroyed, it can be difficult to recover the sample of coal which has been at least partially converted into coke and the consumed material may leave behind ash or undesirable impurities in the converted coke.